Monday, July 11, 2011

Gray being lobbied to build bus garage on Walter Reed site

When that piece was posted, almost exactly a year ago, I wrote it off as a pipe dream. But apparently Tommy Wells, along with Tom Downs of the WMATA board, has been lobbying Mayor Gray to make this into a reality. The proposed bus garage would be enormous, large enough to accommodate all of the buses currently housed at the Northern garage (on 14th Street between Buchanan and Decatur) and the Western garage (on Wisconsin Avenue above the Friendship Heights Metro station).

The Walter Reed site is a tremendous opportunity for Ward 4's growth; let's not diminish opportunities by sticking a bus garage there. As Alpert said, "Who wants a bus garage? Nobody wants one in their neighborhood."

Alice Giancola, a member of the Walter Reed Local Redevelopment Authority (LRA), said that the LRA will oppose this plan as a group. However it would be helpful for individual citizens to send emails to Mayor Gray (eom@dc.gov) and city administrator Allen Lew (oca.eom@dc.gov) to let them know that we'd prefer to stick with the plan of building an attractive retail/residential center on that land.